Luggage for travel can be categorized into two general types of luggage, soft luggage and hard-shelled luggage. However, both of these general types may include packing systems specifically for holding clothing on hangers. One type of travel goods has been sold for many decades under the trademark "Silhouette" by Samsonite Corporation of Denver, Colo. Most of this time certain pieces in this line of luggage have included a C-shaped plastic clip with a wire bail across the open jaws of the C-shaped aperture for retaining hangers having specially shaped hook portions. Ordinary closet hangers could also be retained, but with less security. This C-shaped structure was held by rivets to the center of one wal of a shell of the case, specifically the wall near the hinge which attaches the upper and lower shells of the case. Garments hanging on these specially shaped hangers were placed in the case, the bail wire closed over the open jaws of the plastic clip. A ladder-like accessory, having a series of laterally extending bars was then placed over the hanger-supported garments and the garments were folded over this ladder-like implement. With the case closed, the garments were prevented from slumping toward the bottom of the case by these lateral bars and the hangers helped to prevent the shoulder portions of the garments from shifting to and fro during transport of the case. While this system has served well for a number of years, it included many inherent limitations. The C-shaped hanger support did not securely hold ordinary closet hangers, thus during vigorous transport the hangers could become loose. The ladder-like packing implement was bulky and did not adjust well to carrying amounts of clothes on hangers.
Several packing systems have been proposed specifically designed for a softside travel goods, specifically as a garment bag. One such system is detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,058 issued to Samsonite Corporation. However, while the hanger trolley disclosed in that patent is quite effective in retaining the hooked portions of varying styles of closet hangers, it is generally too complicated and bulky to work effectively in smaller cases where the length of the packing space available from the top of the closet hangers to the lower opposite edge of the suitcase is at a premium. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system for holding clothing on hangers that was extremely compact such that the tops of hangers were moved close to the side of the luggage case having the hanger-supporting device. It would also be desirable to provide a system that is not as bulky as the folding implement of the prior art, yet provided a neat way to support the garments in whatever orientation the particular luggage case is transported.